Monday, March 31, 2008

Ministry

So last friday night we went out to see Ministry. Now Ministry is one of those bands I've always wanted to see. So last November when I heard "this is going to be Ministry's last tour" I scrambled hard to purchase tickets and got them surprisingly easily. And then promptly forgot I had tickets. Then the new year came round and I started thinking "Ministry, thats soon right" and the started getting excited.

Fast forward to March 28th and it was time. Now Shan and I weren't feeling that great as we hadn't been sleeping well all week, but it was going to be a once only chance. We went out with dinner with friends and then wandered over to the Commodore Ballroom. We had missed Hemlock, but Meshuggah were still playing and were pretty darn awesome. It was everything I could have wanted from a metal band along with the outrageous harsh vocals.

And then Ministry came on. They played a bunch of music of which I recognised maybe 2 songs but was pretty wicked. We'd been smart, we had bought earplugs as Rob and Elwood had warned us that Ministry is in the Guinness book of world records for loudest show and I could actually hear the next day as apposed to the times I had seen Sepultura, Soulfly and Biohazzard.

But the best came with the encores. During the first encore they announced that they had with them Burton C. Bell from Fear factory. This for me made me ecstatic as I have always wanted to see Fear Factory back when Obsolete came out. Talking to friends they've said that Bell is not great performing live as a lot of the vocals were augmented in studio but that was not noticeable during Ministry's performance. So the first encore played a lot of their older songs especially a bunch from Psalm 69 and the audience went off! Then the second encore was nuts. They played songs from their cover album Cover Up and the tracks were Roadhouse Blues (The doors) and Under my thumb (The Rolling Stones). I couldn't stop laughing.

We decided at that point the night probably wouldn't get better than that and headed for home. It was a great night out, thanks heaps Ministry!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Haven't really felt like blogging

I've hit a general malaise. Well technically I couldn't say it was a general but there were several stars on his shoulders so I just assumed and decided to lay low for a bit. I would say "not much has happened" but the exciting news is we (that is Shan and I) are going to Europe for a month. Its just too exciting, it's excitement to the max. We're going to go to Paris, Dusseldorf, London, Edinburgh and the west country. We're going to see a heap of friends who we haven't seen in 2-3 years, it's really lifting my spirits that we're going.

In other news, I was saddened yesterday to hear that Gary Gygax died. An important figure in the D&D/RPG community of which I've played modules of his since 1985, first with my father and then with my party when I took the DM mantle. While everyone may not have liked D&D or him personally he along with a few others were the ones who made the revolutionary move from wargaming to an individual state of play which became roleplaying.

Been watching a lot of movies lately. I really really liked No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood. Juno was throughly enjoyable and a fun film to watch.

TV wise, I've started watching Rescue Me which stars Dennis Leary. I'm hooked on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles which I don't really know why. The actress playing Connor isn't overly convincing and the story is a little hokey, but its sci-fi and not terrible so its kinda fun. Plus it Stars Summer Glau hitting people very hard in an unemotional kind of way. Then again, I think I could watch most things where Glau hits a guy. Torchwood has started again and soon the next season of Doctor Who will be up. Lost has been really good this season, surprisingly good.

Other than that, kicking along. Been taking a Grammar class to see if I have it in me to go back to uni since it's a benefit of UBC to cover a certain amount of credits per year. The class went well and I feel that after I take a maths course I should be ready to take full advantage of the "free" tuition.

So I know I said this once before but I will try and blog more often. At least once a month. I tend to blog a bit more frequently on One Sentence Hive but for those who don't frequent there or like to get full info from here, I'll be more diligent.

Peace out